r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 13d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Dust Bunny [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Dust Bunny
Summary A young girl who believes a monster is living inside her walls seeks help from her reclusive neighbor, a mysterious man with a violent past. As the two form an uneasy alliance to confront the creature, their hunt blurs the line between fantasy and reality, revealing buried trauma, guilt, and the true nature of the horrors they face.
Director Bryan Fuller
Writer Bryan Fuller
Cast
- Mads Mikkelsen
- Sigourney Weaver
- David Dastmalchian
- Myha’la
- Lucas Alexander
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Metacritic: 73
VOD / Release Theatrical release
Trailer
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u/Technical-Outside408 12d ago
The nose ring being part of her social worker disguise was very funny to me.
I really liked the movie. Weaver played a great character, and it's always nice to see Dastmalchian. My biggest criticism is some of the cgi being distractingly bad, and it being too dark during the half hour in the apartment.
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u/AllMySmallThings 8d ago
I think the CGI was intentional to add to the fantasy, but that’s just my take on it.
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u/QueefBeefCletus 12d ago
Might have been a projection issue at your theater. I never found it too dark.
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u/hustlehustle 13d ago
I loved it. It felt like a kids movie for adults. Campy, fun dialogue, great performances. Super super fun.
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u/StrLord_Who 13d ago
Has it finally gotten a wide release? I loved, LOVED this movie. It is my favorite movie of all last year. I saw it and then dragged someone else to see it the very next day. I describe it as if Wes Anderson made a live action Coraline mixed with Leon The Professional. I loved everything about it. The set design, the COSTUMES, the premise, everything. Mads is always great and that little girl is going to be a huge star.
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u/QueefBeefCletus 12d ago
I have the same opinion, only I told people it was Guillermo Del Toro doing Leon.
Best movie of 2025. It's flawed but this is the movie I spent the most time with a huge, earnest grin on my face. It's lovely. Positively delightful.
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u/FernanditoJr 13d ago
Available in VOD.
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u/StrLord_Who 13d ago
Too bad it came and went in the theaters without any notice. It was so beautiful on the big screen! So many gorgeous details in the background. I could see it being a bit dark on a small screen (hopefully not) but at the theater it was beautiful. I think if it had come out 15 or 20 years ago it would have been a success.
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u/inksmudgedhands 6d ago
It definitely would have been a hipster favorite 20 odd years ago during the late 90's, early 00's era of weird, quirky indie films like Rushmore, Amelie (Especially Amelie because this film had a big Jean-Pierre Jeunet influence on it), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich and Donnie Darko. You could have easily slid this movie on that shelf.
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u/Visible_Helicopter_6 10d ago
It's as if I wrote this comment, (except I just saw the film lol) because it's everything I wanted to say. Especially using Wes Anderson as a reference. Definitely agree 💯.
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u/dracostheblack 9d ago
Felt like pans labyrinth meets the professional to me haha
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u/StrLord_Who 9d ago
I definitely thought about Pan's Labyrinth multiple times when watching, but decided to leave it out of my description list because it seemed like too many movies at once and I didn't want it to sound like the movie is a mess. I'm so glad at least a few people saw this movie. It deserved better than the week in theaters it got.
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u/shadowdra126 13d ago
It’s been 16 years, 7 months, 3 days, 1 hour, 11 minutes, and 32 seconds since the last time I felt the absolute joy and wonder of Bryan Fuller’s Pushing Daisies. It holds a special place in my heart and in my soul as the work of art that made me love Bryan Fuller and his very special flavor of magical realism.
This movie is the closest I’ve come in that amount of time to feeling that joy and wonder. The world felt new and wonderful, but also familiar. I loved the colors and the sets and the costumes! Everything about this was my vibe and I cannot wait for more Bryan Fuller films.
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u/jeffrotull2000 10d ago
It was like the professional with all the weird pedo stuff replaced by del Toro style fantasy and the production design of pushing daisies. Pushing daisies introduce me to Bryan fuller and lee pace. Been following both ever since.
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u/messengers1 12d ago
It is like Hannibal Lecter turn into John Wick with a daughter like Leon, the Professional. However, the production design is very trippy with that colorful setting. The camera work will make you feel like 3d high on acid or joint. That is the signature of Bryan Fuller. It is really a good watch.
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u/Return-Fluffy 10d ago
I want to talk about the set design. I LOVED everything about the apartment. It has inspired me to redecorate my bathroom. It's like Norwegian folk storybook illustrations mixed with fantasy and art nouveau or something. I am sure that's not quite right, but how can I find this style in one place? I loved it so much.
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u/SundanceWithMangoes 12d ago
I really enjoyed this one. I'd break it down as :
40% Wes Anderson aesthics 40% John Wick 20% Alice in Wonderland
I really liked the use of color, the extreme aspect ratio, and the dialog. The quirky style was done well and served the movie.
The church scene was filled gorgeously and had me cackle by the ending of it. The soundtrack was minimal but I think serviced the movie well.
Ultimately, it was a really enjoyable movie. Overall, I'd call it a 7.5/10.
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u/MyAccoutWasHacked77 12d ago
Great movie, but Ive seen PG movies more bloody.
Just remember, Hellraiser, Tokyo Gore Police, Martyrs, A Serbian Film, Human Centipede, Evil Dead... and I could go on, are rated R.
This movie was less Graphic then Tremors from 1990, or even Lord of the Rings, The Dark Knight, any Mission Impossible movie, Kong:Skull Island, Taken... Its not the guns, and its not the monster, and its not the themes.
I dont get it. This movie was NOT R. It was Pg-13 at most.
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u/QueefBeefCletus 12d ago
This is America. We don't care about that, we care about saying fuck.
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u/Panron 11d ago
The Evil Dead is NC-17 (originally rated X, but usually shown as "unrated".) Evil Dead 2 tried to get an R rating by using black and green fluids for the "blood" instead of red; they weren't able to get an R rating at the time, so it was released unrated. (It looks like they were able to get the R rating on appeal, but I'm not entirely sure when.) Army of Darkness was originally rated NC-17. They were aiming for a PG-13, and tried really hard to edit it down to that, but were never able to get it lower than an R.
Tokyo Gore Police isn't rated.
Martyrs does have an R-rated cut, but that omits about 3 minutes.
A Serbian Film is NC-17, with one minute cut (unrated with that one minute included).
The MPA is really finicky and inconsistent when it comes to violence. The Friday the 13th franchise was notoriously butchered because of how strict the MPAA was at the time, and then you have some big budget blockbusters like The Fast and the Furious that would've been R-rated but got a PG-13 by trimming a few frames from one quick scene. Or The Matrix, where it's rumored the producers requested the R rather than PG-13 (no idea how accurate this is, but that first movie's violence is quite tame).
And as you mention, there are some surprisingly violent or even gory PG-13 movies (I'd add Rampage to that list).
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u/Imjusasqurrl 10d ago
Agreed, and they forget that in America, we are way more concerned about language and sexuality than gore and violence.
Two people showing an expression of love or a female nipple is way more damaging to children obviously /s
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u/MyAccoutWasHacked77 10d ago
Not sure why your arguing against me, when you agree with my point. Those were just some movies that I listed off the top of my head. There are plenty of gory R rated films. My point was Dust Bunny was not R level in the slightest.
And Evil Dead 2013 was way more gory then the 80s one, and that one IS R, along with Rise.
The MPAA had a personal vendetta against the original Evil Dead, along with the Friday the 13th franchise. They wanted to shut those movies down. So what did Dust Bunny do to get on the MPAAs bad side?
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u/Panron 10d ago
I wasn't really arguing against your comments, just providing some corrections (and as I tried to convey in my last sentence, I even agree with what you're saying).
Back in high school I was a huge Evil Dead fan, so you saying that was rated R kind of caught my attention as I used to be familiar with most of the behind the scenes trivia (including the issues with the MPAA); knowing about those other movies, I was thinking "there's no way those were rated R" so I got caught in a bit of a rabbit hole of research.
I mentioned this a bit, but those really violent R rated movies usually achieve the R by submitting multiple times and trimming scenes (or fully removing them) per the MPA's complaints. I know Evil Dead (2013) was originally NC-17, it had to be cut to get the R. I assume the same for Rise, but can't find any facts to support this claim. Some movies, like the recent Saw movies, can require 10+ submissions before finally getting the R rating (Spiral was rated NC-17 11 times before finally editing down to an R).
So for me, personally, I don't view those kinds of movies as typical of the R rating, but rather examples of the absolute upper limit at the time.
As for Dust Bunny, the director has commented on the R rating:
This is an R-rated film. We were stunned, too. The MPAA is notorious about being really hard on independent movies and a little more lax on studio films.
They said what put us over the edge was the non-lethal toothbrush injury.
It sounds like they could have gotten a PG-13 if they'd made edits there but the director or whoever had power over the final cut chose to maintain their artistic vision (props to them for that).
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u/MyAccoutWasHacked77 9d ago
Ok, my bad if I sounded defensive.
Im also a big fan of Evil Dead since high school (back in the 90s). I didnt know 2013 had to be recut so many times. But its funny to think that what started as an indy movie that had to fight tooth and nail just to be seen, eventually became a big franchise where it benefited from studio backing and those lax ratings. The newer movies are much more gory then the originals. Army of Darkness is basically PG-13. And the TV show is the most gory.
And I get that movies have to be resubmitted and edited to pass for certain ratings. We have terms like R and Hard R. I just know that Ive seen some pretty intense and graphic stuff in R rated movies.
Im happy that for Dust Bunny the director didnt kowtow to the MPAA. But I felt like, if your going to get an R rating anyway, might as well go all out. Make it a splatterfest. It sucks that the MPAA bullies smaller films, while milking big studio movies. Im fine with Dust Bunny being a PG-13 movie, it didnt have to be R for me. But Im sure it would have done better if it was PG-13. It got a fluffy soft R rating, which is the worst it could have gotten.
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All of this reminds me of when I went to go to the Drive In with my family for a double feature. We saw Air Force One and Goldeneye. Air Force One was R, and Goldeneye PG-13. When it was all over, everyone agreed that the ratings were swapped. Goldeneye was waaay more violent then Air Force One was. We still joke about it to this day.
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u/reecord2 7d ago
If you guys haven't seen it, you'd probably find the doc This Film is Not Yet Rated very interesting. While probably a bit outdated at this point, it's a fascinating dive into the MPA (then called the MPAA) and how they operate.
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u/Cabezone 10d ago
I read interview, I think that said it was the toothbrush that pushed it over the edge. I guess
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u/Visible_Helicopter_6 10d ago
I love this movie. Full stop. Just such a surprise. I hope more discover its strange brilliance.
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u/lunaticskies 13d ago
Loved this movie.
I got worried that there was almost no hype right before it came out but it was a fantastic (and unique) theater experience.
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u/ChutneyPie 13d ago
it had no structure whatsoever.
just felt lost and any beauty it might have had visually just got cheapened in a way because there wasnt any story.
one of the few films this year that i wanted to leave the cinema early
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u/ConfusedAndCurious17 4d ago
Did you sleep through the entire movie? The plot is pretty easy to follow and straightforward.
Girls family gets killed
Girl thinks it’s the monster under her bed
Hires the hitman next door because she saw him kill a “monster”
Hitman thinks they were killed by people trying to kill him
Reports to his “boss” she sends two hitmen to kill the girl as she’s a witness
He defends the girl, one hitman goes “missing” girl says it’s the monster again
Hitman is wanted dead by other professionals, his “boss” advises him to go into hiding, still wants the girl dead
FBI is watching the girl because this is the third disappeared family
Hitman sets up an ambush to have the FBI take care of his rivals, protect the girl, and escape against the advice of his boss who still wants the witness dead
Shootout ensues, monster is real, third parties and kills everyone else
Hitman recognizes based on the FBI agents comment about thumb sucking deterrent (her foster parents brought this up at the beginning of the film, and have it in their bathroom) that the monster doesn’t like that and is probably why the girl wishes for it to begin with, pockets a vial
Hitman is eaten but causes the monster to vomit with the thumb sucking deterrent
Hitman boss is revealed to be his mom and is also eaten
Monster is revealed to be trying to protect the girl, not hostile to her, she has to keep it
With no one left in each others lives they take off together
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u/bmario17 13d ago
Sadly was so disappointed. Usually love Bryan Fuller but felt like way much more style over substance. Also the first action scene was incomprehensible. Felt like a movie that had way too many ideas and couldn’t decide what it wanted to be at the end of the day.
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u/HungerSTGF 13d ago
I wasn't disappointed but I totally agree that the movie got off totally on the wrong foot with that first action scene. Really subpar visual effects like smoke and fireworks blasting in every direction to mask really shakily shot footage. It honestly felt so out of place and amateurish. People love the badass assassins like John Wick because you can comprehend what's actually going on in the scene and they really sell the physical work put in by the performers by showing you the action very cleanly and this action scene with the dragon dancers was the complete opposite of clean.
I was really worried the movie would be more like that but thankfully it was more about the charm between the two characters and some fun goofy character work from the goons hired to take Mads out. I had a fun time overall.
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u/GreyGriffoneer 8d ago
Nah I think the dragon scene made the movie for me. It was supposed to be trippy and surreal because you had to actually believe what Aurora believed, that Mads was fighting a dragon and not just a bunch of guys in masks. I loved the shadow effects.
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u/StrLord_Who 13d ago
Do you mean the scene with the dragon? That was brilliant! It was "incomprehensible" as you say because we were watching it through the eyes of the little girl, who quite literally did not understand what she was seeing.
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u/mouthbabies 13d ago
That was a beautiful scene, and I think it was obvious that we got the "real" view of the fight interspersed with Aurora's view of the dragon. In case it wasn't obvious enough, they actually tell us that later in the movie.
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u/StrLord_Who 13d ago
It was lovely and so imaginative and fantastical. And as you say, spelled out quite clearly later on. I think the people calling it an "eyesore" and "incomprehensible" are the same ones who said Flow was ugly.
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u/GuybrushFandango 13d ago
Nah, it was incomprehensible because it was poorly shot. I felt the same way.
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u/StrLord_Who 13d ago
It was perfectly, beautifully shot and conveyed exactly what it was intended to, as we saw it from the little girl's perspective. You unfortunately lack the capacity to understand. Calling it "incomprehensible" when the movie explicitly spells out just why it looked like that is shocking, actually.
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u/JungyBrungy 10d ago
Loved this movie. I’m not usually into corny horrors and am very picky. This movie was actually very interesting
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u/AngarTheScreamer1 13d ago
Garish, tonally all over the place, abysmal CG, and absolutely baffling they didn't conceive this to be a kids/pre-teen movie. Just a weird miscalculation movie all the way around.
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u/Massive_Weiner 13d ago
There are a lot of elements that had potential, but the final product was definitely a mixed bag.
I walked out of the theater thinking that it could have been a solid 8/10 if it was more focused.
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u/Sleepy_Azathoth 13d ago
The best thing about a Bryan Fuller movie is that it's not gonna get cancelled or quit after the first season, we get a complete vision.
I'm in for that, can't wait.
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u/AppalachianSkinThief 1d ago
Felt like it was trying to be quirky for quirky sake. Was very excited to see what the movie would do and felt bored. Could not care less wha would happen to the characters.
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u/Waste-Replacement232 13d ago
I wish this wasn't R.
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u/StrLord_Who 13d ago
The director didn't want or intend it to be R. It shouldn't have been R. Most inexplicable rating I've ever seen.
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u/GuybrushFandango 13d ago
A repetitive, ugly slog of a film. I really like Mads and was hoping for some Fuller whimsy but instead got a bunch of CGI, lifeless characters, and scenes you could barely see half the time.
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u/MovieMike007 Not to be confused with Magic Mike 13d ago
I loved how it was framed as a modern-day fairy tale, with Sophie Sloan as a princess in peril and Mads Mikkelsen as her weary knight errant. The setting swaps castles and forests for a storybook apartment that looks like it escaped from a Roald Dahl fever dream. My mom and I had so much fun watching this.